Agreement reached to sell Saratoga nursing home

SARATOGA, Wyo. (AP) - The Montana company taking over a nursing home in southern Wyoming specializes in turning around troubled facilities, but the Saratoga facility presents a new challenge, the company’s president said.

“The 15 facilities we operate, every one of them, came to us in some form of crisis, but none of them as big a crisis as this one,” Health Management Services President Joe Rude said. “When they get to the point that they can’t figure it out anymore, they call us.”

Health Management Services reached an agreement to lease, with an option to purchase, the nursing home from Deseret Health Group, the Rawlins Daily Times reported (https://bit.ly/1c99xyG ).

Deseret is facing bankruptcy and stopped paying for food, medical supplies, wages and benefits at the nursing home and a sister facility in Rock Springs. A new management company was found for the Rock Springs facility.

Health Management Services will take over daily operations of the Saratoga facility June 1 provided the operating license is in place and Medicaid certification is granted.

“We really appreciate the cooperation we’ve gotten from the health department, the state of Wyoming and all of the other departments that are needed to line up and help us get this done in literally less than 10 days that would normally take 60 to achieve,” Rude said Thursday.

Rude said the Saratoga facility has a reputation of providing quality care.

“For us that is a good starting point. We think this first hurdle will be easy to clear,” Rude said. “The second hurdle is going to be making improvements to the building.”

Rude will soon turn to bringing back patients who have been transferred and improving staffing levels.

“For this to be successful we need to get a census above 25, closer to 30 would be ideal, and we will bring the staffing up as we bring the census up,” Rude said. “We’re all about quality. Our theory is that if we can demonstrate that we can deliver quality care then the market will follow. If we don’t meet their needs they are not going to come back.”

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Information from: Rawlins (Wyo.) Daily Times, https://www.rawlinstimes.com